The new Visa stablecoin platform is designed to make it easier for banks, fintech companies, and crypto businesses to launch products based on stable digital assets. The company is strengthening its blockchain payments direction at a time when competition around stablecoins is rapidly growing.
What Visa Is Launching
Visa has introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform, or VSP, as an enterprise service for issuing, storing, transferring, and redeeming stablecoins in a unified system managed by Visa. At launch, the platform works with Open USD, a new stablecoin from Open Standard.
The service includes tools for token issuance and redemption, as well as wallet infrastructure for managing assets on the blockchain. This is important for financial organizations: they do not need to build the technical framework from scratch to use a digital coin in payments, treasury, or settlements.
Stablecoins are usually created to maintain a stable value by pegging to the US dollar. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, where volatility can sharply change the asset’s price, such instruments are more often used for payments, cross-border transfers, and settlements. In this logic, cryptocurrency becomes not only a speculative tool but also part of the payment infrastructure.
What You Need to Know About Stablecoins
The main purpose of stablecoins is to make a digital asset more predictable in price. To achieve this, it is pegged to a fiat currency, most often the US dollar, or to another asset. Such a peg helps reduce volatility compared to regular cryptocurrencies and allows tokens to be used not only for trading but also for settlements.
The main types of stablecoins can be divided as follows:
- Fiat-backed stablecoins — tokens that rely on reserves in regular currency.
- Crypto-backed stablecoins — assets backed by another cryptocurrency.
- Algorithmic stablecoins — tokens that try to maintain price through issuance and redemption rules rather than direct reserves.
The most well-known and popular stablecoin remains Tether (USDT). USDC from Circle is also among the largest, and Open USD is trying to compete through a new model of revenue distribution among partners.
Stablecoins are purchased on centralized exchanges, with Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken among the most commonly used, as well as on decentralized exchanges and DeFi platforms. Such assets are stored in hot wallets for quick operations, cold wallets for more cautious storage, or hardware wallets.
Earning on stablecoins is usually associated with staking, farming, providing liquidity, and participating in DeFi protocols. But risks remain: reserves may prove insufficiently reliable, regulatory rules may change, and technical failures, hacks, or loss of wallet access can lead to loss of funds.
Stablecoin regulation depends on the country. In the US, the main focus is on reserves, disclosure, and oversight of issuers; in the EU, the emphasis is on licensing and holder protection; in China, cryptocurrency circulation remains heavily restricted. In other jurisdictions, the approach may differ, but almost everywhere, regulators’ attention to stablecoins is increasing.
How the New Infrastructure Works
Visa states that VSP combines the “Wallet as a Service” model, blockchain connectivity, and a set of protective mechanisms. Among them:
- Dual transaction confirmation
- Audit logs
- Whitelists for transfer directions
This approach is important for banks, which need to control every banking transaction and account for the digital asset as an asset in their accounting.
The platform is also connected to the existing Visa payment network. This allows financial institutions to add stablecoins to their products without a complete replacement of existing systems. In practice, this means a smoother transition from traditional finance to blockchain settlements, where money can move faster and liquidity becomes more accessible.
Stablecoins open a new level of programmable money, but for most institutions, the complexity lies not in the idea itself, but in its everyday operational implementation, said Jack Forestell, chief product and strategy officer at Visa.
A stablecoin in this format works as a digital currency backed by fiat money. For the market, this is fundamentally different from assets like gold or bonds: here, the focus is not on storing value, but on settlement speed, access to the payment network, and a stable exchange rate to the base currency. At the same time, in global finance, other benchmarks remain alongside the US dollar, including the euro.
Why the Launch Intensifies the Stablecoin Market Battle
The launch of VSP continues Visa’s broader strategy in digital assets. The company already supports stablecoin settlements for select partners, develops card programs linked to cryptocurrency, and expands cross-border payments on blockchain infrastructure.
The Open Standard consortium, associated with Open USD, lists Visa, BlackRock, Alphabet, and Coinbase among its supporters.
- Supporters: Visa, BlackRock, Alphabet, and Coinbase.
- Role: supporting the Open Standard consortium associated with Open USD.
- Advantages for partners: no fees for issuance and redemption, as well as returning almost all reserve income to distribution partners.
If this model takes hold, the stablecoin economy may shift: more income will go not to the issuer, but to companies that bring the token to users and businesses. This is especially sensitive for Circle, whose USDC remains the second largest stablecoin after Tether.
Circle shares, trading under the ticker CRCL, fell about 5% on Thursday. Pressure on the stock remains after the Open Standard presentation: investors fear that new revenue distribution schemes will worsen the economics of established issuers. For the sector, where market capitalization and trust in reserves play a key role, this is no longer a technical detail but a question of future competition.
Amid interest from large companies and platforms like Binance, decentralized financial services are getting another signal: stablecoins are becoming not a peripheral tool of the crypto market, but part of the payment and financial infrastructure. For the United States of America, where the US dollar remains the base settlement unit, the battle for such products will be directly tied to how finance, payments, and the very science of capital movement are changing.
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